Friendship is the Antidote for Hatred
by Profound Username
Summary: Naruto is pretty good at making friends. Always has been, too. Maybe the civillians don't like him that much, but the same can't be said for the shinobi population. Well, for most of them, anyway.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

I read somewhere that you should tell readers what music you listened while writing the story, because it could add to the experience. For those interested: I listened to the album All The Lights In The Sky from Area 11, and Inhuman Rampage from Dragonforce (beware, Dragonforce is a power metal band).

'Thoughts' 'This is a thought.'

"Speech" "I am talking."

* * *

7:27

That was what the alarm clock said, the one situated on the nightstand on the right side of a bed.  
This bed appeared to be occupied, judging by the bulge underneath the sheets.

7:27 was the time when a hand slipped through from between the sheets and flicked off the alarm set for making noise in three minutes.

The reason that the owner of said hand had not woken up from annoying beeping noises, could be seen when looking a little to the left of the bed. That was where a window was situated.

Now, normally, when somebody is occupying the bed in a room, it would be logical to assume that the curtains on every window in this room are drawn. A reason being because the sun rises relatively early in the Fire Country, no matter which time of year it is. Another reason could be, because the sun goes down relatively late in the Fire Country too. So if you wouldn't draw your curtains when you went to sleep, you might have trouble falling asleep, or you might wake up a little earlier than you planned.

Unfortunately for the person underneath the sheets of the bed, the curtains in his room were not drawn. This resulted in him waking up an hour and a half before the set time on his alarm.

You may be wondering, "What kind of idiot doesn't draw his curtains when he knows he'll wake up way too early?"

Well, this idiot did, kind of, have an excuse.

The idiot forgot to draw his curtains the previous night because when he got home last night, it was so dark outside, when he shut off his lights, it looked as dark as it would have with his curtains drawn. he came home that late because he had been training in a forest near a training ground.

He was training because of something his Sensei said to him that same day. That something being, "Remember to go to bed early kids, because tomorrow you'll want to be at your sharpest for your shuriken and kunai skill-test." He only took half his Sensei's advice, because he would be practising deep into the night with his weapons.  
This may sound unsettling to you, since shuriken and kunai can be pretty dangerous, and a Sensei was grading children for their skills with weapons.  
I assure you however, that there is nothing unsettling about children with weapons, because all these children attend the one and only ninja academy of the village.

Including the bundle of sheets. Which was slowly waking up again, after falling asleep three times since he first woke up this day.

A head popped up from the bundle of sheets. The head had a spiky mess of yellow hair adorning the crown. It also had a pair of almost entirely closed eyes, and an enormous goofy grin. This head's owner was named Naruto Uzumaki, and he seemed pretty excited. The reason he was so excited while having a crappy waking up, was because today was the day. _The_ day. The day he would finally beat his rival. He had practised all night for it, so he was sure he would do better than him. He would humiliate him in front of the entire class. And after that, he would ask his crush out.  
Yes. It would be a good day to be Naruto Uzumaki.

Before he would inevitably fall asleep again, he hurried out of his bed. He walked into his bathroom, and stood in front of his filthy mirror. He still had his goofy grin plastered on his face while he was busy washing his face and brushing his teeth. Then he realised he was brushing his teeth. 'Oh crap,' he thought, and he proceeded to trying to flush away the sharp minty taste with lots and lots of water, because breakfast would be horrible with that taste in his mouth. After taking a quick shower he went back into his bedroom.

When he had finally fully woken up after a cold shower, he went back into his room and pulled a pair of bright orange pants out of his dresser. He also got a mesh shirt from the next dresser, and an orange and blue jacket from the one next to that one. After checking that his pants were right-side forward, he put them on, grabbed his goggles. and walked into his kitchen while pulling the goggles over his head. He grabbed a cup of ramen, put some water in the cup of ramen, placed it his microwave, where it would be heating up for the next three minutes.  
Naruto pulled open another cupboard, and grabbed a glass which he then filled with water. He walked over to his window, opened it, and emptied the glass in the pot on the window's frame. It was a beautiful day, the sun was bright but it wasn't too hot yet, birds were chirping, and the streets were empty apart from an old man who was opening the door to his shop.  
A soft, cool breeze could be felt.  
He walked back to his counter, dumped the glass on there, and walked over to his table to grab his mesh shirt which he then proceeded to pull over his head.

A bead of sweat formed on his frowning eyebrow. It was suffocatingly hot in his apartment. This sounded like a certain owner of an apartment complex needed some glue in his shampoo.

While adding another thing to do on his mental 'things to do' list for that day, he took his time stretching out and walked back into his bedroom to grab his pouch filled with ninja tools and a strip of bandage.

After having his tools secured on his right leg, he went back to his kitchen and grabbed his now extremely hot cup of ramen, some chopsticks, and his jacket. He walked through his bedroom again and walked out the other door, to his balcony. After having set down his cup of ramen on the small table, Naruto hung his jacket over the back of his chair, and sat down to gobble up his cup of instant goodness, but not before saying a quick "itadakimasu."  
When he was done eating, he ran back in his house, hurriedly brushed his teeth for the second time that day, put on his sandals and made sure his front door was locked. He grabbed his keys and put them in his pocket, after which he looked at the clock.

It was now 7:55. That left him with 35 minutes left until the academy classes would start. 35 minutes until everyone would see how awesome he was. Naruto ran outside to his balcony again, slammed his door shut, grabbed his jacket, and bounded off to the training ground next to the academy to get warmed up for his tests.

* * *

Naruto was the only one student to arrive this early, much to his surprise. The only person there was Iruka-Sensei, who was just about to enter the academy, probably because he had some teacher stuff to do.

"Good morning Iruka-Sensei!"

"Naruto? What are you doing here? Classes start in half an hour! You're never this early." he said, when Naruto ran over to greet him.

"I just thought I could practise my throwing skills a little bit more and warm up for the tests!"

"..."

"What's wrong Sensei?"

"Naruto... You know the tests are this afternoon, right? We always do the theoretical part of the classes first. There is no point in warming up." Iruka looked a little disappointed as he said this.

"..."

"I knew that." Naruto mumbled. It looked like Naruto got a little too excited when thinking about the test, and forgot this little fact.

Iruka's disappointed face suddenly lit up. "But, it's good that you're so enthusiastic for school. If only we could get you more interested in things like maths for example." He let out a small laugh. "But I imagine that would be near-impossible."

Naruto glared at his teacher, "Yeah it would be. Because it's _boring_. And your boring lectures about a boring subject don't make it any better."

While Iruka tried to ignore the insult to his teaching abilities, the only visible evidence that he was insulted being a small twitch in his eyebrow while keeping his smile as bright as before, he suddenly thought of something that might help his student. "Hey Naruto." he started.

Impressed that his teacher could maintain a level-headed attitude for once while being insulted by him, Naruto lifted up one eyebrow. "Yes Iruka-Sensei?"

"You just said something about training your throwing skills right? You did remember to train all your other skills right?"

Naruto looked a little confused as he said this. "Huh? I thought this was a test just for shuriken and kunai!"

"It is, but you can do much more with shuriken and kunai than just throwing. I'm sure the other students realized this, so that's why I'm telling you."

"Wow, thanks a lot Sensei!" It took Naruto five seconds to entirely process what his Sensei just said to him. "Hey! I'm not that stupid!"

"Also, you can't use _any_ chakra. No ninjutsu, no enhanced jumps, no nothing. Got it? Every time you use chakra, a point will be detracted from your total score." Iruka thought it would be a good idea to relay the rules he told his students a week ago, because Naruto was asleep in class the first time he told the students about the upcoming test.  
"You won't get to use your own tools. You'll have to hand in your tools when we start the test. You'll be provided with four kunai, twenty shuriken, and ten metres of metal wire. We'll be using the obstacle course for this test." This, he hadn't told the other students. This, he was technically not allowed to say to students. He was giving Naruto an unfair advantage. But Naruto didn't know that. 'Well, can't take it back now, can I?' Iruka thought. He supposed giving an unfair advantage to someone who is treated unfairly wouldn't be so bad. That's what friends are for.

When Naruto heard all these new rules and information, his eyes widened. 'What? we're using the obstacle course? I thought this was just a simple throwing accuracy test! And no chakra? This'll be way harder than I thought!' His preparation for the test suddenly seemed to cover a little less than he had thought.

"Naruto... you're not going to tell me you forgot the rules of the test right? I told you them yesterday!" Iruka lied to his student, because none of his students had heard these rules yet.

"No... Of course not Sensei! Who do you think I am? Anyway, I'm gonna practise a little more! See you in half an hour!" he yelled as he ran off around the academy building to the training ground, to try and prepare for the test that afternoon. In his mind he was panicking, Sasuke would be way more prepared for this test, since he knew all these rules yesterday, so he probably trained with them in mind.  
He wasn't aware of the amused glance Iruka cast him while he went over to unlock the front door of the academy. 'He's probably thinking about how he's going to beat Sasuke.' He shook his head with a small smile on his face and walked inside to prepare the program for his classes.

Meanwhile, Naruto was sitting in the middle of the training grounds, fretting over the things his Sensei just said.  
'Alright, brain, help me out here. We're having a weapons test on an obstacle course. Maybe it means we're going to have to hit targets while running the obstacle course as fast as we can? But Iruka-Sensei said that throwing isn't the only skill with our weapons. So maybe they're going to throw shuriken at us that we'll have to deflect while doing the obstacle course?' He was sure these were skills that were going to be tested, so he was going to train a bit more in them. Deflecting shuriken was out of the option, because you need at least two people for it. That left him with training his throwing while running and jumping. He could do that.

So for the next twenty minutes, Naruto could be seen doing all sorts of weird acrobatic movements while throwing his shuriken at targets, like flips, handstands, and cartwheel turns.  
He was running up to the side of a tree, flipped off, and threw a star mid-flip. Then, a loud 'Thunk' could be heard, the implication of him hitting his mark. Another sound could be heard in the background though. It was a crunching sound, like when someone was eating chips. In fact, it actually was.

"Hey, *munch,* Naruto! What'cha doin'?" The person asking was a friendly looking... well fed boy, with brown hair that stood straight up. He wore a pair of black shorts with bandages underneath, a yellow-ish white shirt with the kanji for "Food" on it, and he had two swirls on his face, one on each cheek. Otherwise known as Akimichi Chouji.

"Hi Chouji! I'm just doing some last-minute training for the test this afternoon." Naruto answered.

"Oh, cool. I was thinking about that this morning. It's probably not gonna be what we're expecting, you know, since this will count for the genin exams in a month." It was a pretty smart conclusion, especially considering Chouji wasn't always the brightest light on the Christmas tree.

"Did Shikamaru tell you that?" Naruto had a grin on his face, not unlike usual.

Chouji laughed at how easily Naruto saw through his lie. He guessed it wasn't a very good one, too, if Naruto could see through it. "Maybe. Want some chips?" He offered.

"Sure, thanks Chouji!" Naruto marvelled at Chouji's ability to take almost any insult with a laugh and a smile. They started walking back over to the small  
school yard in front of the academy, when Naruto asked: "You nervous for the test?" He wasn't one for walking in silence.

"I am, a little. *Munch* but I think it'll go fine. I've practised a lot for it, so I'm not that worried. " He looked pretty confident to Naruto, but Naruto knew that was because the test was that afternoon, and Chouji would become increasingly more nervous as the test came nearer, even though he didn't have much to worry about. "Are you nervous Naruto? You kind of have a history with ignoring the rules on these sorts of things."

"I'm not that nervous Chouji, because I've got nothing to worry about! I'm more excited about it, actually! You should be too, I know we're going to do great!" he said, as they rounded the corner to the school yard.

Chouji knew that Naruto was just trying to calm him down a little, but even though he was aware of this, it still worked. The not-so-calm confidence from the blond boy was calming in a weird way.

They saw Iruka-Sensei standing in front of the (now open for students) academy doors, enjoying a bit of fresh air before he would go inside a building for a couple of hours straight. Chouji yelled across the school yard: "Iruka-Sensei, I got him like you asked!" Apparently he was supposed to get Naruto from his little training session. When they got closer, Iruka said: "Thanks Chouji, come on in. classes start in about ten minutes."

The two boys went inside to their classroom, to see a couple of people already there. Among them was Nara Shikamaru, a lazy kid, with a haircut that looked like a pineapple. He was scoring just barely above Naruto in classes. He was seated in the middle of the back row and seemed to be comfortably resting his head on his folded arms. Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino were also present, sitting next to Uchiha Sasuke on either side of him. They seemed to be in the middle of a staring (glaring) contest. They were seated one row below the Nara boy.

When Chouji (and Naruto) came in, Shikamaru's face instantly lit up a little. For the past few minutes he had been listening to two troublesome girls having a troublesome argument over nothing. So when his best friend, and his troublesome-but-still-reasonably-good friend came in, you could imagine that he would feel relieved. He lifted his head up, shot them a lazy grin, and waved at them.

Chouji waved back and said: "Good morning." Naruto thought it was necessary to yell "Good morning guys!", because he knew the lazy Nara was revelling his semi-asleep state. Instantly three glares and one exasperated look were shot at him. Surprisingly, it was Ino who didn't glare at him. She just sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose and said: "Could you have entered while making any _more_ noise, Naruto?" Okay, she was glaring now too. Naruto walked over to sit to the right of Shikamaru, so he would sit as close as still possible to Sakura-chan, while Chouji went over to sit to the left of Shikamaru. Ino's glaring eyes didn't leave him though.  
Looks like she actually expected an answer out of him.

"Well, like the great student I am, I thought it was my duty to make sure Shikamaru wouldn't fall asleep before classes." Ino just snorted at the sarcastic remark. "It might have also had to do with the fact that Shika here," He patted the back of Shikamaru's head, which was now resting between a hand on each cheek, just hard enough so his chin hit his desk, "put a smoke-bomb in my pants yesterday."  
Shikamaru smirked at that while rubbing his chin, until he remembered why exactly he had done that. "That was only because you rigged my lunchbox with one!" Shikamaru looked a little more awake while he angrily exclaimed this. Only Naruto could get him this riled up. Troublesome blonde.

"Well you had that coming because -"

"So, *munch*, Ino, are you worried about the test this afternoon?" Chouji asked her, while Shikamaru and Naruto were arguing to his right.

"Not really, no. I mean, of course I'm a BIT worried, because, you know, it counts for the genin exams, but I definitely think I have a chance of getting the top spot!" She said, getting more excited as she talked on. She may have sounded a bit arrogant, but it had valid reasoning, because she had the highest average of their year. "Or second." She cast a look to her right, where Sasuke was sitting. He didn't seem to care though.

Meanwhile, the class was slowly filling up with students, and Iruka-sensei had come back inside to make some final preparations for his upcoming lectures.

Apparently, Sakura didn't agree with Ino's statement, and she didn't hesitate to let this be known. "Ha! You wish Ino-pig! That spot is mine!" Again, this may have sounded a little arrogant, but like Ino, Sakura was among the top of the class.

Before Ino and Sakura could start another argument, or before Naruto could butt in saying that _he_ was going to get the top spot, Iruka yelled, "Alright students, I'm going to get a cup of coffee and then we're starting class!", saving the class another argument they really didn't want to hear.

Apparently an interruption wouldn't be enough for Naruto to stop boasting. "You guys can suck it! I'm gonna beat all of ya in the test!" He appeared to be challenging the whole class, instead of just the two people who were saying they had a chance for the top spot.

"sure dobe." "No way you're going to get top spot when Sasuke-kun is doing the same test!" "No way a dead last like you could ever get first place!"  
Some people (Sasuke, Sakura and Ino) seemed to have little faith in the possibility of him being able to back up his claims.

"You're going to have to beat me if you want that top spot, blondie!" someone challenged. Naruto looked to his right, and he saw that the source of the challenge was seated on the left side of the desks next to him. He had a grey fur-lined jacket, with a white pup sticking out of the jacket, just below the boy's chin. He also had a fang-like symbols on his cheeks. His name: Inuzuka Kiba. Naruto hadn't even noticed him coming in. He had a grin on his face as he challenged the blonde boy.

"You're on! 50 Ryo that I'm getting a higher score than you!"

"Ha! that's not even a challenge! Make it a hundred!" Knowing that Naruto usually screwed up on these sorts of things, because he tended to ignore the rules and do whatever he liked, Kiba took his bet and instantly doubled it.

This was the moment that Iruka-Sensei came back into the classroom, and walked over to stand behind his desk. The class quickly settled down, but Naruto wasn't done talking yet

"A hundred Ryo it is! Don't think that just because you beat me last time it'll be easy now! Mark my words, Naruto Uzumaki will-" That's as far as he got, before Iruka shouted through the class, "NARUTO! SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN! I'M TRYING TO GET MY CLASSES STARTED!" It worked, the twelve-year old was scared shitless. He quickly sat down, because during his boasting he had put one foot on his desk and one on his chair, while pointing at Kiba.

"Why does he always pick on _me_?" Naruto asked sadly, to nobody in particular.  
Shikamaru answered his question. "Because you're troublesome, Naruto."

And with that, class started.

* * *

**Author's Notes:  
**

What'cha ya think? Stupid? A total waste of time I shouldn't have even bothered with? Do you hate me because my first attempt at writing something isn't exactly like you wanted it? Please flame me in a review then!

So yeah! My first fanfic. I personally think I dragged out the intro a bit. If you noticed a mistake I made, please don't hesitate to say so in a review or a PM. (Also, please review.)

This story is set approximately 1 month before the academy genin exam, if you read over it in the story. I thought the idea of just having to make a bunshin to make it through the Academy was ridiculous, so that's why I'm broadening the exam a bit. As you can see, I am writing this with a friendship between Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba in mind. It was mentioned in canon that they hung out a couple of times while they made trouble. I want to explore the option of them having a bit of a deeper friendship. Also, Naruto is trying to keep his feelings for Sakura hidden. He doesn't do a very good job of it, but he still tries to. Reason being that he's a bit embarrased about it with his friends making fun of him for it. You know, twelve year old logic.

Pairings: Not decided yet. If it'll even have romance. If I do decide to have Naruto pair up with someone, Don't hope for either NaruHina, NaruSaku, or a harem. I strongly dislike NaruHina for whatever reason, and I've always thought SasuSaku is a better pairing than NaruSaku (Doesn't mean I hate NaruSaku though). Don't hate on me for it, I'm just not going to write a pairing I personally dislike. It's called an opinion.

I came up with this story while trying to fall asleep. Not that exciting, is it? But anyway, did you know that each year, more people die from donkeys than from plane-crashes?  
Oh, you don't care? Here: have a badly made bunny.

(\_/)  
(o_o)  
(")(")


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.  
**

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Music I listened to while writing: The album Trapt, from Trapt, and the album All the Lights in the Sky from Area 11 (again).

'Thoughts' 'This is a thought.'

"Speech" "I am talking."

* * *

Class was almost over. Just ten more minutes, and they would finally take a brake. Naruto was trying his best not to fall asleep, because he wouldn't want to sleep through his break.

It was hard. Really hard. Shikamaru had already given up on trying to stay awake the first three seconds when class first started. He slept through the first intermission at ten o'clock too. Iruka was either used to it, and knew waking the lazy boy up wouldn't make him pay attention, or he didn't see him because Sasuke's head was obstructing the view on Shikamaru.  
Probably the former. "A ninja should be aware of one's surroundings" was one of his favourite sayings after all.

Chouji nudged the black-haired boy next to him. "Hey Shikamaru, it's almost break time, you'll be wanting to wake up soon." he whispered. They always hung out during the afternoon break.

It seemed like Shikamaru was waking up, judging by the quiet grunt he let out. He sat up when Iruka-Sensei was facing the blackboard to write something down, so he wouldn't notice. This position prevented him from asleep again, so it would take less effort to stand up to go outside during the break. He was pretty good at being lazy.

Iruka turned around, and unfortunately for Shikamaru he had apparently noticed him waking up, because he said, "Ah, Shikamaru, have you decided to join the land of the living once again?" Crap. this probably meant- "You've missed three and a half hours worth of class. That means you'll be having detention for three hours and half hours after class, and tomorrow after class." Iruka said it with a smile on his face, which didn't really fit the tone he had said it with. Shikamaru was a bit disappointed, but it wasn't like this never happened. He never got away with sleeping in class in the end. "Sure thing, Sensei." he said, after letting out a sigh.

Iruka seemed to be finishing up whatever boring subject he was lecturing about. "Alright students, this will probably the last conventional class you'll be having this year. This grabbed everyone's attention, since there was still a little more than a month to go until graduation.

"I've gone through every bit of theory you'll get on the theoretical part of the exams, and every week you'll have a test, so I'm not going to burden you guys with more homework." Not like most of the class made it, anyway. "Instead, we'll be using the time we've been using for the theoretical part off class for helping you guys with things you're still struggling with. You can ask me questions for the theoretical exam, or practise for the academy-taught Jutsu test or Taijutsu test. We'll also be informing you a bit more of a genin's duties."

That sounded pretty good. No more boring classes, no more getting detention for not paying attention to those boring classes, and they actually got to practise some Jutsu. Naruto needed some help with his Bunshin, he really didn't know what he was doing wrong. Interrupting those thoughts, Iruka continued, "All right, it's twelve o'clock now. I'll meet you all on the training grounds behind the school in one hour."

* * *

After Naruto, Kiba, and Shikamaru had eaten their lunch, Naruto and Kiba went to the training grounds to practise for the test. Chouji and Shikamaru were sitting under a tree. Chouji would be practising too, but he hadn't finished his lunch yet. And his five bags of chips.

Kiba and Naruto weren't practising on the targets set up though. They were 'practising' on each other, because they got into an argument.

"Shouldn't you be practising too, Shikamaru? I know you're not the most active person, but this _is _a big test, you know?" Chouji said.

"Nah, I'm good. It'd just tire me out before the test even started. Besides, trying to practise while those two idiots are messing around would be troublesome." He didn't agree with Chouji's statement.

"The break is almost over anyway. I just plan on doing a tiny bit of warming up so I don't get sore afterwards."

"Oh right, I need to warm up a little too. I think I'll start with that now." Chouji said. Shikamaru just remained sitting under the tree. He'd warm up while Iruka would be explaining the test in a few minutes. He was expecting some sort of special test, because throwing some kunai and shuriken at a target wouldn't be a very good way to test their skills. He could only hope the test wouldn't be too troublesome.

Most of the other students had already gathered on the training grounds. Some of them were warming up by practising throwing on some targets, others were just trying to calm down their nerves a little by meditating. That probably wouldn't be going to well, with Ino and Sakura right next to them, arguing again. You'd think that if those girls didn't like the other very much, they would try and avoid each other. This wasn't the case, much to the annoyance of everyone around them.

Nevermind them though, Iruka and Mizuki were walking towards the training ground, happily talking to each other. They both were carrying what looked like some heavy bags. Looks like it was time for the test.

The training ground quieted up, aside from a single student who didn't notice that their teachers had entered the field. That soon stopped though, because after greeting the class, their Senseis started to go through the attendance list. After that, Mizuki said, "All right, here's what's going to happen. We're going to the obstacle course for this test." 'Of course,' Shikamaru thought, 'why can't anything ever be easy.' "Everyone will need to hand in all of their ninja tools. You'll be provided with four kunai, twenty shuriken, and ten metres of metal wire."

Most of the students looked very surprised as Mizuki said this. Naruto was surprised too, but not because of what Mizuki had just said. He was surprised because the other students were so surprised. It's like this was the first time they heard these rules. He looked towards Iruka, who looked right back. Iruka grinned and winked at him. 'Oh,' Naruto thought, 'cool.' He grinned back. Being friends with your teacher was pretty awesome.

"Okay," Mizuki started, "hand in all of your ninja tools, guys. After that, we'll give you a pouch with the mentioned tools, and when that's done, we'll go to the obstacle course."

After every weapon had been handed in, and all tools that students had tried to hide had been confiscated, the group started walking towards the place the test was going to take place.

Chouji was looking very jittery. Naruto, Kiba, and Shikamaru were trying to calm him down a little, but it didn't seem to help all that much. Chouji would have been less nervous, had the obstacle course not been one of his worst nightmares. There was no good way for him to put that monstrous strength of his to work on a course where speed and agility would be the most important.

They arrived at the obstacle course. The only thing you could see was a three meter high wall. To the sides were trees, because the obstacle course was in the middle of the forest. The course was sort of like a path cut through the forest, so it wasn't very hard to know where you should be going. About a hundred meters to the right was the path where the course ended.

Something was off about the wall though. That something being the rope that normally hung on the first obstacle. When asked about it, their Senseis just gave them a slightly sadistic smile and said, "What, you guys didn't think that it'd be as easy as the last times, did you?" This did nothing to calm Chouji's nerves.

"Who wants to go first?" Mizuki asked. Looks like the students could pick in what order they could go. "Numbers one through five get bonus points!" That was probably to encourage students to go first. And encourage them it did. Sasuke Uchiha immediately said, "I'll go first.", and right after, Naruto yelled, "I'm second!" Ino and Sakura were fighting about who could go third and who would go fourth, while Kiba claimed his place as fifth.

"Okay, Sasuke Uchiha, you're first. There are fifteen targets on the course you'll have to hit. You'll get points for each one you hit. You will also get points for your time on the course, and various other things like how you deal with our surprises. Ready?" Iruka got a cold stare for an answer. "I'll take that as a yes. Go!" Sasuke immediately threw his four kunai at the wall, and jumped on them to get to the top of the wall. When he got to the top by jumping on his kunai, he pulled his hand back, and all the four kunai flew up to his hand. Looks like he had attached metal wire to all four of them. Then he jumped off, and the rest of the students could only wait for the black-haired boy to finish. Everyone walked over to the finish, to wait for him.

The girls were talking about Sasuke, and how awesome he was, while Naruto was talking to Chouji. "Come on, Chouji, calm down a little. It'll be a piece of cake." Chouji was still very nervous, though. "How can I calm down when I don't even think I'll make it past the first obstacle? I don't think I can do what Sasuke just did." He didn't have a lot of faith in himself.

Sasuke could be seen just about to be crossing the finish line.

"Well, I'm up next. Yatta! I'm all psyched up." Naruto said. That was how he left Chouji behind, not feeling any better. Nobody followed Naruto to the start of the obstacle course though, they were listening to Iruka and Mizuki giving Sasuke his score for the test. When they had finished up, they went over to the wall. Naruto was standing excitedly in front of the first obstacle course, with one kunai in each hand. He was waiting for the sign he could go and run the course.

When everyone had arrived at the start of the obstacle course, Iruka gave Naruto the signal to start. "Go!" That was when Naruto jumped towards the wall. When his feet came came off of the ground, you could see he had bound his other two kunai to his feet using his metal wire. He easily scaled the wall, and when he came near the top, he made one last jump, and landed in a handstand on the top of the wall. He cast an upside-down grin towards Chouji, and flipped over the wall.

'Thanks Naruto.' Chouji thought. That would be a very good way for Chouji to use all of his strength in his arms and his legs for the first obstacle. It made him less nervous, if only just a little.

"That looked really weird. Just like a spider climbing a wall." was what Kiba had to add.

* * *

When Naruto flipped over the wall, he had to hurriedly unbind the kunai from his feet, while he was still in mid-air, because running with those things under his feet would be a little uncomfortable, to say the least.

When he landed, he had successfully unbound the kunai, and put three back in his pouch. The metal wire he put back too, just in case.

Naruto started running towards the next obstacle, with in one hand a kunai, and in the other a shuriken. It was a little more than a hundred meters. About halfway, a hail of shuriken suddenly came whizzing out of the shrubs. He dodged some of them, and deflected two with the kunai in his right hand.

Five seconds later, he arrived at the next obstacle, which was a giant mudpit. It was about twenty meters long, and Naruto ran straight in it. While he was struggling to keep a good pace through the brown stuff, he was rewarded for his efforts with more shuriken. He dove down into the mud, and let the stars fall around him in the mud. He got up again, now covered in mud, and got out of the pit.

The next obstacle was a tightrope suspended between two poles on each side of a small creek. It was about half a kilometer away from him when he started running again.

He hit three targets with his shuriken, which were hidden in bushes, and another one on a tree branch. When he was about to get to the creek, after he had dodged and deflected some more throwing stars, Naruto could see two stars flying towards the rope. He tried to deflect the two stars in mid-air with his own, but he missed. Thoughts were running through his head, 'What do I do now? If I try and make my own rope-bridge, I'll definitely waste too much time!' A crazy idea suddenly jumped in his head.

He didn't stop running to the creek. Instead he just grabbed all of his metal wire, and knotted the parts he had cut off for his kunai-shoes back to extend the chord just a little bit further. He was just a few steps away from falling in the five-meter wide creek. When he arrived at the side of the creek, he jumped. While he jumped, he threw a kunai with all of his metal wire to the high post on the opposite side of the river. His kunai hit, and Naruto had to climb up his metal wire in mid-air, to prevent him from still falling in the creek.

When he was above solid ground again, he yanked on his metal wire, and his kunai came loose from the post.  
He started running again, he still had one obstacle to go through. The course made a sharp turn, and started gaining a slope. There were pits in the ground, covered up with twigs and leaves that would open up once you got near them, there were fake explosive tags Naruto had to jump out of the way of, and more barrages of blunted shuriken were thrown at him. This made it very hard to hit the eleven targets hidden in the bushes. He eventually missed two of his targets because of a fake explosive tag attached to a kunai that was thrown his way. He came to a halt next to a cliff, which he would have to descend off of. Normally there was a rope here too, which you could use to climb down.

He tied his ninja wire around a kunai again, and looped the wire twice through the ring at the end of an other. He stomped the first one in the ground at the top of the cliff, and held the other one in his hand, while he climbed down the cliff as fast as he could.

He was two meters off the ground when he jumped off, not collecting his metal wire this time, because the end of the obstacle course was near. After making another sharp turn, he could see the finish, and all the students in the clearing behind it. He was running as fast as he could, getting excited. He almost got hit by _another_ barrage of blunted shuriken hurled his way, but still narrowly dodged them.

The finish was very close. Naruto was grinning, he'd done it. This run couldn't have gone any better. Just a couple of steps and he would be finished.

Of course, it wasn't that easy. Two logs flew out of the bushes, attached to the trees with some rope.

They were going to smash Naruto to a fine paste between them, if he didn't dodge them. They were relatively high, so rolling underneath them would be the easiest way to dodge them.

But that way would lose him a lot of speed right before the finish. So he jumped as high as he could, over the two logs which had collided with each other underneath him. he could feel the logs brush his jumpsuit underneath him as he flew over them, and over the finish line.

He noticed while he was falling to the ground, that he should have probably tried to make a front flip to land on his feet. Well, it was too late now, because he was lying face-down in the grass over the finish line.

While most of the students were laughing at him, Iruka came up to him and told him, "You did well, Naruto. Better than I had expected." Naruto gave him a grin, still lying on the ground, which Iruka returned.

"All right, your score. You hit thirteen out of fifteen targets. At the rope you missed your opportunity to get over it normally, but you recovered in a way that was faster than actually doing it normally. Your overall speed was good, but not the best, and you did not get hit by any of the shuriken we threw at you, although there were some close calls. All and all, this was an incredibly good run. If we add all of your points together, you get eighty-nine out of a hundred.

Silence.

"Hey bastard, what was your score?" Naruto asked Sasuke. Everybody was staring at Naruto, surprised the dead-last could get such a high score.

"Ninety-six." Dammit.  
Naruto didn't look as pleased as he should have with such a good score. He didn't seem to notice the surprised stares he got while he walked back to his firends.

Iruka just sighed at Naruto's behaviour. "Okay, next up is Sakura Haruno."

* * *

After the tests were over, and Kiba paid Naruto a hundred Ryo because of his own rather unimpressive score, Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba went to Ichiraku's.

"Do we _have_ to go to Ichiraku's _again_?" Kiba asked. "I know that they're the best ramen place in town, but there's other food too, you know?" "Arf!" Akamaru agreed with Kiba's statement.

"Shut up dog boy, it's my treat, so don't be such a bitch about it." Naruto answered. "And ramen is the best food in the world! Why _wouldn't_ you want to eat it every day?"

Shikamaru sighed, and before Kiba could get back at Naruto for the 'dog boy' comment, he said, "Just give up, Kiba. You can't win this battle." Chouji agreed with a nod of his head.

"Hey Ayame-neechan! Old man!" Naruto yelled as they walked up to the ramen stand. "I'd like one big bowl of miso ramen to start!" He hadn't even sat down yet, and had already ordered his favourite food. While the others ordered their food, Naruto started talking to his surrogate family behind the counter. "Old man! I got eighty-nine points on my first test!" he boasted.

He was a bit happier about his score now, though he didn't beat Sasuke, he beat every single one of his friends. That made him a little happier, even if it wasn't really a contest.

"That's great, Naruto! You're going to become a fine shinobi, I just know." the old man answered with a smile. He put a bowl of ramen in front of every one of the soon-to-be shinobi, and then turned around again to prepare the second big bowl of miso that would soon be ordered.

"How did you even do that, Naruto? I thought you were a loser like us." Shikamaru said. Chouji nodded, while Kiba pretended to ignore the comment, he still had some self-respect left.

"How? I'm just that awesome, Shikamaru!" was the blond's intelligent reply. Shikamaru just face-palmed and went back to eating. "Just forget it, troublesome blonde." Shikamaru mumbled.

When they were done eating (even Chouji and Naruto, who ate about five big bowls each) Naruto paid, just like he promised, and they all went their separate ways.

"See you tomorrow guys!" Naruto yelled to the other three. They waved at him and shouted a goodbye in return.

When Naruto got back to his apartment complex, he made sure to let his landlord know you didn't mess with Naruto Uzumaki. He went back to his (now not scorchingly hot) apartment, and watched some TV before he went to sleep.

Maybe he hadn't beaten his rival, maybe he hadn't asked his crush out, but still.

Today was a good day.

* * *

**Author's notes: **

Not much to add, really. I'm not sure about the part with the obstacle course, but I think the chapter went pretty well. A bit short, but I think the next will be a bit longer.

See ya.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**.

* * *

Music I listened: the album Endgame from Rise Against, the album Audio Secrecy from Stone Sour.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

* * *

The day after the first test the academy started out like any other day.

Iruka was giving a lecture like always. Only the subject was different, but it only made it a little bit less boring. It was about how genin normally operated, or something.

After a couple of hours, Iruka told the class what they had been waiting for. "Okay, now is the time to either ask questions, or practise your tai- or ninjutsu. If you want to practise taijutsu and ninjutsu, you can go outside. Mizuki-Sensei will be waiting for you there. Anyone with questions for the-"

There was no point in continuing, because everyone had already run outside. 'Well,' Iruka thought, 'I guess I get the rest of the day off!' He stretched out, and walked out the classroom with a smile on his face.

* * *

The students who went outside went to the training field behind the academy. Mizuki-Sensei was already there, and started helping the students who were sparring, or practising their ninjutsu.

Some people were just slacking off, but Mizuki was so busy he didn't even notice.

"Mizuki-Sensei! Mizuki-Sensei!" Naruto yelled. "Can you please help me with my Bunshin?"

"Could you wait a second? I'm still busy with some other students!" Mizuki yelled back from across the training field. After a couple of minutes, he came jogging across the field.

"Now, what were you having problems with, Naruto?" Mizuki asked with a friendly smile on his face. Man, that guy was probably the friendliest shinobi that had ever existed.

"Well, whenever I make a Bunshin, they just fall over and just lie there. I don't really know what I'm doing wrong, and no matter how much chakra I pump into it, it always happens."

"Ah, well, there's you problem. Try pumping a little less chakra into it, okay? The technique doesn't work properly with too much chakra. If you're having problems with putting less chakra in the technique, you should train some more on your control." With that, he went off to help some other students again.

Naruto went wide-eyed at the revelation. 'It's been just too much chakra the entire time? I really thought I was doing something wrong with the technique itself!' He immediately started practising again.

He focused his chakra, performed the necessary hand-seals, and performed the technique. "Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique)!" He yelled. He put about as much chakra in the technique as the amount he put in a regular Kawarimi. Any less was extremely hard for him.

His clone dropped on the ground, white-faced and looking like he was about to puke.

"Wow Naruto, your Bunshin sucks."

"We've been practising that jutsu for how long now? Two years? Three? That's just sad." Kiba said with a grin on his face.

"It's just because I put too much chakra in it! Looks like I'll have to do those boring chakra control exercises again..." Naruto said with a groan.

"Yeah right. I don't think _anyone _has chakra control so bad they can't make a bunshin in their exam year. But then again, I don't think you even have the leaf exercise down yet, right?" Naruto didn't look too happy about that. He jumped up the tree that Kiba, Shikamaru, and Chouji were sitting under, grabbed a leaf, and sat down next to Kiba. He put the leaf on his forehead, and tried to make it stick to his forehead.

Not two seconds later, the leaf slid off his head. Naruto picked up the leaf and tried again. This went on for about five minutes, until the blond boy had fallen asleep from boredom like the boys next to him.

* * *

"Sakura Haruno: a hundred out of a hundred." Iruka was reading out the test scores from the theoretical exam that the students had made the day before. He cast a smile to the soon-to-be kunoichi. "Great job Sakura, I'm proud of you." The girl blushed with the praise.

Iruka's smile didn't last long, though. He saw the next test paper, and his smile dropped into a frown. "Naruto Uzumaki: five out of a hundred."

While the class was busy laughing at the boy (they liked to do that a lot, didn't they?), the boy in question didn't really seem bothered by it.

"How do you even _get _five points out of a hundred? I mean even if you wouldn't learn for the test you would still get better scores than that!" Ino apparently wasn't content with her score of ninety-nine, so she had to make herself feel a bit better. By making fun of someone else.

"Right, Naruto. I don't know how you did it, but you better make up for it in the following tests. Your average right now is forty-seven out of a hundred. You'll need an average of fifty-five or higher to pass."

"I know Sensei. Don't worry about it! I'll definitely pass! The Taijutsu test and Ninjutsu test will be a breeze!" He said with one of his confident grins. It didn't inspire that much confidence in Iruka, though. Ino huffed at being ignored by the dead-last, and turned her head to face the front of the class again.

A sigh came out of the academy teacher. "All right Naruto. But if you ever have any problems, or need some help, don't hesitate to ask, okay?"After that, he focused his attention back on the entire class. "Let's go outside. Because the theoretical exam is done, I'll be joining you outside for help from now on." Too bad he had to, he was enjoying his afternoons off.

* * *

It was nice and warm outside, even more so than normal. Well, it was nice and warm outside if you were just taking a little walk. It was annoyingly hot for people who were sparring or doing anything remotely active. Naruto and Kiba were feeling this as well. They had been sparring for only half an hour, but they were already feeling tired.

"Wanna take a break?" Naruto asked the dog-boy. "I really hate doing stuff like this at noon. The sun's the most annoying this time of day."

"Tell me about it. I usually only train taijutsu in my clan compound's dojo, and ninjutsu in the night, because it's a little too destructive to practise inside. If you do practise stuff like this during the day, you should probably do it under the trees."

"You guys got a dojo? Man, that's awesome! If I wanna practise taijutsu, I just go to the forests near a training ground or something..."

"Yup, being in a clan is pretty awesome that way. Although sometimes it can be pretty busy in there."  
Naruto agreed to that with a nod. He could imagine that.

They sat down next to Shikamaru and Chouji in the grass, who, once again, hadn't done anything since the class had went outside. Naruto took off his orange jacket, sitting in just his sleeveless mesh shirt. He grabbed his lunch, which consisted out of four sandwiches, and sat down to eat with his friends.  
The guys were eating in silence, when Shikamaru, of all people, decided to interrupt the silence.

"You know, in a few weeks, we won't be able to do this anymore. We'll be doing troublesome missions all day. No more time to sit and enjoy some cloud-watching." Looks like he wasn't really looking forward to it. "I hope we get a Jonin-Sensei who isn't that troublesome."

"It's not like we'll _never_ hang out again. And at least _you_ know that you're teamed up with Chouji, for all I know I might get teamed up with that bastard Sasuke!" Naruto disagreed.

"If you even pass the exam." Kiba helpfully added.

Shikamaru sighed for the umpteenth time that day. "I suppose you're right about that. Dealing with Ino all day, though. That's the part that I'm least looking forward to."

"Oh, come on, Shikamaru. She's not that bad. She only gets a bit more... energetic... when Sasuke or Sakura are around." Chouji said.

"No it won't be fine Chouji. She'll just complain about how I'm lazy and about your... eating habits. It's always been like that."

"I would too, if I had to listen to you complain about everything all day long. Just try and be nice for once, and don't be a lazy ass." Naruto said.

"...We both know that that's not going to happen, Naruto." was Shikamaru's response. He would just have to accept that there would be constant nagging from Ino, and boring missions all day long.

"Naruto, let's get back to sparring." Kiba said. They had been sitting around for about half an hour now, and Kiba was getting bored with just talking.

"I think I'll train my chakra control a little bit more." Naruto responded as he once again jumped up a tree and grabbed a leaf.

"What? Who am I going to spar with now then? Everyone is already doing something." Kiba angrily responded

"I really need to get my control good enough so I can make a bunshin. You can always ask the bastard if you really want to spar." They looked at the Uchiha boy who was practising his taijutsu on a dummy, like always. Because he was the best of the class by a large margin, he would kick most people's asses quite thoroughly. And nobody likes a sparring partner who they couldn't lift a finger against, even though you might learn a bit more from it.

"Well, I guess I can ask him..." Kiba said, unsure about it. Even though he was one off the best in class in taijutsu, Sasuke was in a league of his own. But, he was really getting bored after all, and he wasn't going to start punching a dummy if there was someone available to spar. So he went over and awkwardly asked Sasuke to spar. "Uhh, hey Sasuke. You want to spar?"

Sasuke responded by stopping his furious punching and kicking of the dummy, turning around, and lifting an eyebrow. Nobody ever asked him to spar.

"Ahh, well you see, Naruto just blew me off, and you look like you could use a sparring partner." Sasuke accepted it as an explanation, he nodded and walked over to the clearing to get more room for their spar.

Naruto was trying to focus on the leaf on his forehead. If he could make it stick for a full minute today, he would be satisfied. His old record was about twenty seconds, so it would be a challenge.

After about half an hour of the leaf falling, and him picking it up and sticking it on his forehead again, it finally seemed like he would get to a whole minute.

'fifty-six, fifty-seven,' Sweat was gathering all over his face, he couldn't lose focus now that he was so close! He shut his eyes in concentration. 'Fifty-eight,' He was trying his best to shut out Chouji and Shikamaru, who were trying to break his focus by throwing strands of grass in his face.

'Fifty-nine, sixty!' He stopped focusing, and the leaf fell off of his forehead. His concentrated face went back to his usual grinning face. He opened his eyes again, and opened his mouth to start yelling about how awesome he was, when a hand full of grass flew into his mouth. He looked to his right, and saw a smirking Shikamaru. Naruto started spitting out the strands of grass, and Chouji started coughing, because some chips went down the wrong whole while he was laughing.

"Hey, try out your Bunshin again, Naruto. Maybe it won't look like it's about to start puking now." Shikamaru said.

Naruto's eyes lit up, he nodded and he hurriedly spit out the last strands of grass that were sticking to his tongue. He'd get Shikamaru back for that later. He stood up, did the required hand-seals, and shouted once again, "Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique)!" He'd learnt since last time that making more clones would decrease the chakra per clone, which would get him closer to creating clones that actually looked like him.

He focused his chakra in three clones, and when the illusions appeared, he saw his chakra control exercise had paid off. No longer would the clone appear on the ground, and try to throw up before it dispelled. No, these clones were actually standing up, albeit barely. They also still looked very pale and like they were about to throw up, but those were just the details. No, he had actually made process! It took him a week of sitting down for half an hour to do a boring exercise, but he had pulled through like the awesome ninja he was. And now his Bunshin could stand on their feet.

Chouji was coughing again from laughing too hard. "Wow, you sure did progress a lot with your Bunshin Naruto." Shikamaru shakily said, trying to hold in a laugh from the awful display of a simple technique.  
Naruto sat down next to them again, a grin on his face. "Hey, at least it's something. I'd be disappointed if they'd still be lying on the ground after all this work." Man he hated that boring meditating exercise. It was just sitting around, it made him all jittery.

"All that work? How long have you been doing this for, four days? And you've only done it for half an hour a day. Max. You could probably fix your Bunshin up in a day, but you can't sit still long enough." Chouji said.

"Well, half an hour of meditation a day is all I can take. I'd do more, but I fall asleep if I try to. And besides, we still have over two weeks until the ninjutsu test. So no need to rush it."

After another half an hour of slacking off, most of the students had gone home. Actually, besides Mizuki, Naruto was the only one left. He was sitting on the old swing, a place he'd like to sit when he was alone. He was just relaxingly thinking about how he was going to become the best ninja ever, and taking the hat from the old man, when Mizuki walked up to him.

"Hey Naruto, I heard you didn't do too well on your theoretical test, huh?" He was wearing his friendly smile, like always. Naruto wondered if his face was stuck like that. "Ah, nobody cares about the theoretical test, Sensei. I'll just try even harder on the tai- and ninjutsu test." He grinned.

"Well, I suppose I should tell you what I came to talk to you about. Because your average is the lowest in class right now, you get the possibility to score some bonus points on an extra test. It could be beneficial, _if _you perform well. So what do you say? Want to try it?" his Sensei said. 'An extra test? That sounds great! It'll be easier to get my grades up this way!' "You bet Mizuki-Sensei! What do you need me to do?"

"I'll tell you tonight, when the test will be taken, okay? I'll meet you on top of your apartment complex at about seven. Be prepared." And with a last smile, he walked towards the academy, probably to close up.

Naruto ran off to his apartment, to prepare for the test, even though it was only half past three, and the test was still a little less than seven hours off.

* * *

After realizing that he still had a lot of hours to waste, and wasting those hours eating away at Ichiraku Ramen, Naruto met up with his Sensei on his rooftop. The test he was taking was an infiltration mission in the Hokage's house, where he was supposed to get the scroll of the forbidden seal. During his test, he would have to maintain his cover, just like a real life infiltration mission. It would get him bonus points if he wasn't discovered. After he would have acquired the scroll, he was also supposed to learn one Jutsu from it. It sounded like a pretty good test to Naruto, if you got a free Jutsu.

So that was why our little troublemaker was currently sneaking through the halls of the Hokage tower, which, next to being an office, was also where the current Hokage lived. He'd snuck past the three patrolling Chuunin guards on the bottom floor, and one of the second floor. He was now busy rummaging through one of the several bookcases, when he found what he was looking for. A big scroll with "Scroll of the Forbidden Seal" on it. 'Bingo', he thought.

"What do you think you're doing in my house at this hour, Naruto?" Naruto jumped up from the sudden voice, and turned around to see an old man staring down at him. He was wearing some white and red robes, and a weirdly shaped hat with the same colours on it, and the kanji for "Fire". The Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.

'How'd he sneak up on me? I didn't even notice him!' Naruto's hand went up to rub the back of his head, a tic he had when he was embarrassed. "Ahh, well you see, I was just walking by and uhh... Sexy no Jutsu!" He hurriedly formed the hand-seal and transformed into a very curvaceous blonde with two ponytails and the same sets of whisker marks on her cheeks. The Hokage's eyes went wide, and a stream of blood exploded out of his nose.

'Oh crap,' Naruto was panicking as he looked at the unconscious old man on the ground. 'I gotta get out of here, I hope I don't lose points because of this!' He jumped out of the window, and bounded off to the clearing he would train the ninjutsu on the scroll.

Naruto was sitting next to the abandoned shack in the clearing between the forests of training ground four and five. 'All right, I probably need to learn a Jutsu first before Sensei comes.' He opened the scroll, and read the first thing he saw. 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique). Used to make solid copies of the user. Beware, this Jutsu requires a big amount of chakra. Great! I won't have to do stupid chakra exercises if these take more chakra!'

There was some more text below it. 'The Jutsu creates a separate a mind, Yadda yadda yadda... Ah!' He'd found the instructions on how to perform the technique. He stood up and prepared the hand-seal for the technique. "Let's get cooking, shall we?"

* * *

Iruka was jumping along the trees like a madman. He'd been called upon by the Hokage to find Naruto. Apparently, roughly ten hours ago, the little idiot had stolen the scroll of the forbidden seal. Thus, the Hokage had called on every available ninja, Chuunin level or higher to find out where Naruto was, and why he had stolen the scroll. Some of the ninja had agreed on killing the boy if they found him, though. It didn't help his nerves, to say the least. 'Let's hope I'm the one who finds him first, Hokage-sama. For all our sakes.'

Naruto loved the woods, and they were the best hiding spots in town. Most dispatched shinobi would probably be searching the town for Naruto. So it was obvious where Iruka was going. Iruka went off towards the training grounds. He jumped along the rooftops, off to the closest training ground, which was number one.

He didn't see anything there, so he jumped through the woods that separated the training grounds, to the second training grounds. He didn't see anything here either. He was beginning to panic when he jumped into the third training ground. 'What if the others have already found him? He won't survive an attack of a Chuunin! He could try and run away, but not much more.' When he jumped in the clearing that was training ground four though, he finally heard something. It sounded like yelling, no, cheering? One thing was certain though, it was Naruto.

Iruka hurried to where the sound came from. He saw the blonde boy jumping around in a clearing, looking very happy about something. "I found you..." Iruka said, barely containing his anger with the blonde.

Naruto turned around, and looked at Iruka with a smile on his face. "Hey, if it isn't the nose-bleeder!" He pointed at Iruka. Before Iruka would explode with righteous fury, Naruto said, "Heh, looks like my time's up, huh? I thought I might get to learn a second one from the scroll." Iruka was baffled, how could he take this so lightly? Didn't he realize this might just get him executed? "So I pass if I show you the skill, right?" Wait, what? "Naruto, who told you that?" Did he think he was taking a test?

"Uhh, Mizuki-Sensei of course. This was part of the test, right? He said if I showed you this, I'd pass it!" he said with the biggest grin he could muster, he was pretty tired after ten straight hours of practising a ninjutsu.

'Mizuki?' Iruka thought. Was his friend really behind this?  
A glimpse of flying metal caught his eye as he pushed his student out of the way. Iruka put his hands in front of his face as the barrage of kunai hit him. He looked towards the place the kunai had come from while he was pulling the knives out of his arms and legs, the adrenaline making him barely feel it.  
"Naruto, hurry up and give me the scroll!" Mizuki yelled from atop his tree branch.

"Naruto, run! Go straight for the Hokage tower and don't look back! Mizuki has gone rogue, and used you to get that scroll!" Iruka yelled at the now confused Naruto. He didn't know what order he should follow. But, if Mizuki really had gone rogue, he should probably listen to Iruka.

Besides, going to the Hokage with this could never hurt. He stood up and was about to run away, when he realized something. He couldn't leave a wounded Iruka with a traitor! His Sensei was a nice guy, and he wouldn't just leave for Iruka to fend for himself! He turned around, just in time to see some shuriken fly at him that Mizuki had thrown. Iruka threw some of his own, and deflected eight of the twelve that were thrown at his student.

Naruto was fast enough to dodge three out of four remaining throwing stars, but before he could retract his hand, the last remaining shuriken embedded itself in the back of it. He quickly took cover behind a tree, before a second barrage of shuriken could hit him.

"Naruto, what are you doing?! Get to the Hokage tower, immediately!" Iruka yelled at the twelve-year-old. He then realized why Naruto wasn't going. "I'll be fine, just go! I'll be right behind you!" Didn't that idiot get that that scroll was the more important factor here?

"No way, Sensei!" Naruto yelled, while he yanked out the shuriken out his hand with a splatter of blood and a sharp wince. "There's no way I'm leaving you here! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!" Because he was tired, and his hand hurt like hell, he couldn't focus right, so his technique only produced twenty clones, instead of the intended hundred.

Iruka went wide-eyed at seeing Naruto perform a Jonin-level technique. His surprise didn't last long though, because the stinging pain in his legs and arms reminded him he still had weapons stuck in him. He began pulling them out as Naruto charged forward.

"Oh, so you actually managed to do it, did you?" Mizuki said with a sadistic smile. "Imagine what I could do with something like that, if someone like _you_ could learn that." The rogue Chuunin said, while dispatching the clones easily by throwing some kunai and shuriken.  
The clones had done their work, though, Naruto was right up in his former Sensei's face.

Naruto threw his hand forward in a punch at the traitor's stomach, but it didn't connect as he was kicked in his side. Hard. "Did you seriously think you could beat a Chuunin? You're not even a match for most of the academy students!" Mizuki taunted as Naruto stood up again. Mizuki was smirking at Naruto's attempt to fight an impossible battle.

'Hmm,' Mizuki thought, 'I can have a little fun with him before I kill him.' "Naruto," He begun, "Do you know why the villagers hate you?" Naruto's head shot up with a wide-eyed look, pain forgotten.

"It's all because of an incident a little more over twelve years ago, when the Kyuubi-" Mizuki's head shot to his right, where he could see a few shuriken flying at him.

"What?! What happened twelve years ago?!" Naruto yelled as he stood up. Mizuki kicked him straight in the stomach, with enough force to make him fly into a tree. The boy slid down from where he had hit the tree, and fell down face first on the forest ground.

The rogue shinobi then jumped out of the way of the incoming throwing stars, and turned to his right, to see Iruka standing once again. "This is as far as you go, Mizuki." Iruka said, and charged at his former comrade. He deflected some shuriken with his own as before he ran into close quarters. He wasn't much of a match for Mizuki, who didn't have several bleeding knife wounds. He dodged a punch aimed for his head, but got hit by a kick to the stomach. He fell to one knee, clutching his stomach, as he received a knee to his nose.

He fell over on his back, and Mizuki stood over him, with a kunai in his hand, ready to slit his throat. "This is as far as you go, Iruka." He repeated the words the Academy instructor had said earlier mockingly. He still had his sadistic smirk on his face.

"Why, Mizuki, why did you do this? I thought we were friends..." Iruka said, coughing and struggling under Mizuki's foot planted on his stomach.

"Why? For the scroll, of course. Naruto is the same as me, you know. He'd do anything for power."

"Naruto would never do anything like this! He'd never betray his friends, or the village!" Iruka yelled, angry at his former friend.

"Yeah, you bastard! don't compare me trash like you!" A voice yelled from the left.

When Mizuki turned his head, all he could see was two feet connecting with his face. He stumbled to his right, but Iruka tripped him by lifting one of his legs behind Mizuki's knees. Mizuki went with the fall, extending his hands to flip backwards over Iruka.  
Halfway in the handstand, Iruka's other foot swiped through his arms, making him fall. He scrambled up, sitting on his hands and knees, but then received a kick to his stomach, lifting him up in the air. He tried again to regain his senses again while mid-air, but failed through a violent stomp on his back, making him fall to the ground. On the ground, Naruto was waiting for him, with a final upward punch to the traitor's stomach.

Naruto grinned tiredly at his former Sensei, who was lying on the ground. He crouched, and said, "Don't touch Iruka-Sensei, you bastard! And don't _ever_ underestimate Naruto Uzumaki, dammit!" And with a punch to his temple, Mizuki's world went black.

"You all right, Sensei? You don't look so good." Naruto said, grinning weakly and clutching his right hand, which was almost entirely pierced by the shuriken from earlier.

His Sensei grinned back at him, sitting up straight. "I'm all right, Naruto. Nothing that'll last," His vest had protected him from the weapons aimed at his organs, and the ones that had hit his legs and arms hadn't gone in too deep, or at least, it didn't feel that way.  
"Hey, Naruto. Come over here." Iruka said. "Close your eyes for a second." He said as Naruto sat down in front of him. Naruto felt his goggles being pulled down over his face around his neck, and something being tied on his forehead.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now." his Sensei told him. He opened his eyes to see his Sensei smiling to him, without his hitai-ate secured on his forehead. "I don't think you need to worry about graduating after this, Naruto. Now, Let's celebrate! I'll treat you to some Ichiraku ramen, okay? Naruto?" he asked his student, who was looking to the ground with a trembling smile on his face. The blonde boy threw himself over his Sensei hugging him while tears streamed down his face.

"Oww, Naruto. That hurts!" Iruka was smiling, though. "I think we should take a quick trip to the hospital, for your hand too. You're bleeding all over me."

They started walking back to town, with Iruka leaning on Naruto for support, but not before Naruto tied Mizuki up and made a Kage Bunshin to drag him to the Hokage.

* * *

After having his hand patched up, and sleeping for a couple of hours in a comfortable hospital bed, Naruto went to room seven, Iruka's room.

When he arrived, Iruka's bandaged form wasn't the only one in the room. In front of the window was the old man he had knocked out with his infamous technique yesterday. The Hokage.

"Ah, good that you joined us, Naruto-kun. We were waiting for you, actually." the wrinkly man said with a smile on his face. "You certainly did cause a lot of trouble for us yesterday."

Naruto's hand immidiately went up to rub the back up his head.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about all that. I still don't really get what happened." the boy said, apologizing. "Also, uhh, sorry about using that technique on you, I-" He was interrupted by some loud coughing noises from a blushing Hokage.

"Ah, yes Naruto. It's quite all right. As for what happened yesterday, Mizuki wanted the scroll of the forbidden seal, and he tried to take it by making you steal it from my office. He is currently held captive, waiting for a thorough interrogation." Naruto nodded, with all that what was going on yesterday he got a bit confused.

"And about that hitai-ate Iruka gave you," Naruto's hands rose up to grab the headband, it was a gift from his Sensei, and nobody was going to take that from him. "Ah, I won't be taking that from you, Naruto-kun. I agree with Iruka's decision, and you don't need to worry about passing the exam." Naruto's hands went down again, relieved that he could keep it. "However, this _is_ a village secret, so no civilians, including those in your class can be informed of this."

Naruto looked disappointed at this, he wanted to show off to his friends, dammit! "It would spare us a lot of trouble, however, if you _do_ pass the exam like a normal student. It would raise a lot of eyebrows among your classmates if you suddenly didn't have to take the final exams, but still became a shinobi."

So, he would have to pass just like any student. Nothing changed, really. He looked even more downcast than before. Noticing, the old man tried to cheer him up a bit. "But, I suppose this could count as your first real mission, including reward. Hmm, Mizuki would be a C-ranked shinobi, so this could account as a B-rank mission. Come by my office later and I'll give your reward. You too, Iruka. You deserved it." he said with a smile.

Something had been on Naruto's mind ever since this morning, though. He still had something to ask. "Hey, old man?" He asked with a downcast look on his face. "Yes, Naruto?" The Hokage always ignored Naruto's disrespect. "What happened when the Kyuubi attacked, and what does it have to do with me?"

Ah, Hiruzen had thought this would come up sooner or later, so it didn't surprise him all that much. He had seen everything that had transpired this morning through the crystal ball he used for his telescope technique.

"Yes, I suppose we can't keep this from you any longer. You probably know about the Yondaime killing the Kyuubi, do you not?" Naruto nodded, focused for once on a conversation. "Well, that is a lie." Naruto's eyes went wide with shock. "You see, the Kyuubi was far too powerful to kill by a mortal man. So instead, he offered up his own life to seal the demon inside a newborn. That is where you come into the question, Naruto-kun."

Naruto's eyes went even wider, and after a while, he shakily asked: "Why didn't you tell me? Most people avoid me, and I've never known why! Everybody knew all this time, why didn't I!" He was crying freely now.

He was suddenly enveloped in a hug by the old man. "After we had found the Yondaime, his dying wish was that you would be celebrated as a hero. The people didn't take it that well, though. So I made a law, to never speak of this incident again. Nobody could tell the children your age what had really happened that night, so you could live a normal childhood. After a while, I realized this too had not went the way I would have liked it. And I am sorry for this, Naruto. Because of this rule, you have not had an ideal childhood, to be exact." The old man said, with a sad smile.

"Hey, old man. It's not because of that stupid rule." The hokage looked down quizzically at the boy, waiting for him to continue. The boy looked up at the man, he was wiping the tears off of his face.

"It's just because they don't know me. But I'll make them see I'm not that fox! And that's when that hat's mine, so you better watch out!" He said, grinning once again. The Hokage smiled back, glad that the boy could stay as optimistic as ever. "I'm glad, Naruto. Tell you what, I'll take you and Iruka to Ichiraku's. Oh, and Naruto, when you are hiding the fact that you are a shinobi from civilians, I think you should not be wearing a hitai-ate in public."

Naruto's eyes lit up at the mentioning of Ichiraku's, and while he stuffed his recently acquired hitai-ate in his pocket, he looked at Iruka, who smiled back and said, "I'm sorry, but I think I'm a bit tied to this place."

"Nonsense. I read your chart at the foot end of your bed, and it said that you had extensive damage to your muscles in the legs, which had patched up pretty much entrely, and on your arms lesser damage that was already healed, so we will have none of that." The Hokage responded with a smile on his face. Iruka still didn't look too sure about it.

"It will be all right, Iruka. We'll just grab a couple of crutches, and we can go." Iruka _still_ didn't look very conviced.

The old Hokage sighed, and grabbed the chart hanging on the end of the bed. He handed it to Iruka, who read it over. "You see? It even says you don't have to stay here on the chart. Have a little faith in this old man, will you? Now grab those sticks, and we'll sign out at the reception." Iruka had the decency to look embarrassed, and got out of his bed to grab the crutches stood next to him. They went out the door, Iruka was walking a bit awkwardly because he had never had to use crutches before.

The Hokage signed the two patients out at the reception, when the receptionist said, "Hokage-sama, I'm sure you are aware that only medics can officially sign out patients. This will only result in more paperwork." The old leader had a knowing smile on his face. "Oh? Last time I checked, I was still a certified medic." He reached inside his robes and grabbed an old medic identification card. He wrote down some serial numbers and handed in the papers tot the receptionist.

"I think there won't be an issue of extra paperwork. Now, Iruka, Naruto-kun. Let's go, shall we? Oh, and Iruka, after about two weeks, you should turn in those crutches again." He turned around to see two baffled shinobi staring back at him. He just smiled at them as he walked past them, to Ichiraku's. "Come on, don't make an old man wait!" The two shinobi shook out of their stupor, and quickly followed their old Hokage.

* * *

After having had a delicious meal at their favourite restaurant, and not having to pay for that delicious meal, Naruto and Iruka followed the Hokage to his tower, where they received payment for a B-ranked mission (twenty-five-thousand Ryo), despite heavy protests from Iruka.

After convincing Iruka he had deserved it, Naruto and Iruka were walking outside, one with crutches, one with a bandaged hand. "So, what are you going to spend your reward on, Naruto? It's a decent amount of money, you could buy a lot of stuff from it." It was a little before eight, so they still had about half an hour before they had to got to the academy.

The boy scrunched up his face in thought, and said: "I don't know, maybe some more Ichiraku's?" A bead of sweat formed on the back of his Sensei's head, which once again had a hitai-ate on it, after replacing the one he had given to his student.

"Maybe you could look for something you'd like in a weapons store? You can enter, now that you're a shinobi and all." Naruto looked up at him, surprised. He hadn't even known that there was a weapons store in town. He thought your weapons were supplied by the academy and, well, maybe he hadn't really thought about it that much.

"You didn't really think we'd just keep supplying you with your tools, did you?" Iruka said with a knowing smile. "No..." Naruto said, not convincing his Sensei.

"Well, if for instance a shinobi would like to specialize in a certain weapon, we're not just going to give it to him, you know. You should also resupply at a weapons store with kunai or any other tool if you run out or need more." And somehow his Sensei had turned their conversation into a lecture once again.

"Yeah, yeah Sensei. Let's just go there, in stead of giving me another lecture." Naruto said. His Sensei's eyebrow twitched a little, but he settled down. They walked off to a weapons store Iruka frequented. They couldn't take the rooftops, because Iruka was on crutches.

They arrived at the weapon shop, and Naruto opened the door for his Sensei. Iruka was a regular at this shop, and greeted the girl behind the counter. "Good morning, Tenten-san." The mentioned girl lifted her head up from the counter, and greeted him back with a smile. "Good morning Iruka-san. How can I help you- What happened to you, Iruka-san?" She noticed that the academy instructor was walking on crutches after her greeting.

She also noticed the blond boy that came in after the Chuunin. "Iruka-san, civilians aren't allowed in here. You know that." Naruto sheepishly pulled out his hitai-ate from his pocket and said, "Ah, yeah sorry about that. The old man said I can't show that I'm a ninja yet. So I can't wear my hitai-ate until I officially gruaduate." Tenten snapped her fingers, as if realising something. "Ah, Gai-Sensei told us about what happened this morning. You assisted a Chuunin in subduing a traitor, right? Then, you must be the Chuunin he assisted?"

She pointed at Iruka, he was having a stare-down with the weirdly entrancing form of a boy in a green jumpsuit who was sitting cross-legged on the counter. He was staring back intently at Iruka and Naruto. Naruto was wondering why a genin was working in a weapons shop. Didn't you get money from doing missions?

"These are our youthful comrades who apprehended that utterly un-honorable shinobi? I am most pleased to meet you. My name is Rock Lee, also known as the Handsome Devil of the Hidden Leaf." The green jumpsuit-boy stuck out his hand for the two baffled shinobi in front of him to shake, which they did. "Iruka Umino, I'm an instructor at the academy." He shook out of his stupor. "Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage, nice to meet you too, bushy brows!" Naruto grinned at the weirdly dressed shinobi who now had a new nickname, and shook his hand.

"Nobody calls you that, Lee." Tenten said, referring to the Handsome Devil part of his introduction. "What was that?" Lee asked, apparently not hearing her.

Tenten was busy introducing herself to the new shinobi, so she didn't respond to Lee. "Nice to meet you. I'm Tenten, and that guy is Neji. These guys are my team-mates. Normally someone else would be working here, but our Sensei is busy, so I figured I could go back to the store for a bit. Didn't know these two would join me, though."

Iruka and Naruto looked at the other boy present, apparently called Neji. Neji nodded. They nodded back, Naruto with one eyebrow raised. That guy reminded him of someone. Those eyes, they were kind of familiar. Ah, well. He could always ask later.

"So, what can I help you with?" Tenten got back to business, to keep the focus off of her awkward teammates.  
Iruka snapped back at attention, after his eyes had been pulled to the weird form of Lee. She said Gai was their Sensei? Yeah, he could see that.  
"Well, Naruto here is just looking for something he wanted to spend some cash on, and I... Ah! I suppose I should ask if the academy's restock order has arrived yet."

"Feel free to browse around," She said to Naruto, who nodded with his permanent grin, and walked off in the store. "And as for the order... I don't know of the top of my head. I'll have to look in the back, so if you'll excuse me for a moment." She walked through the door behind her to look if the order had arrived yet, and left Iruka alone with her two team-mates, of which the green clad-one began bombarding the academy instructor with questions about the encounter with the traitor.

Meanwhile, Naruto was browsing the store, looking for something he might like. There were all sorts of weapons, from a small tanto to a giant zanbato, or a kusarigama. There were also a lot of types of armour, like reinforced versions of the vest you receive when you attain Chuunin rank, or Anbu-style shin and arm-guards.

As he was browsing the store, his eyes fell on a pair of fingerless blue gloves. The back of the were covered with a steel plate with the leaf symbol engraved in it, and the palm had some curved shuko spikes on them, with a metal plate under the cloth to secure them. These things were developed when ninja didn't know how to stick to walls with chakra yet, but Naruto didn't know that.

He looked at his bandaged hand, and back at the gloves. Yup, those were gonna be his now. He didn't particularly like shuriken sticking out of his hands. He looked at the price, only two-thousand Ryo, too. That left him with a lot of money to spend. Maybe he should buy a short sword, like a tanto or a wakizashi? He didn't really have anything for close combat, except for his kunai, but those were more general tools than for fighting in melee range anyway.

Ahh, he didn't know. There was too much to choose from, anyway. He might come back later to have a look. He walked over to the counter, where that Lee guy was enthusiastically talking to his Sensei, who seemed a bit off-put by the boy's grandiose hand-movements and general loudness. The girl, Tenten, had also returned from the storeroom, and was once again lying with her head on the counter. Neji was still standing impassively to the side.

"Naruto, found anything you like?" Iruka seemed glad at the interruption, as he smiled towards the boy while he asked this.

"I got these," He lifted up the gloves, "but I couldn't really decide what I wanted after that, so I didn't grab anything else." He said as he laid the pair of gloves on the counter.

Tenten whistled when she saw the pair of gloves. "You want _those _old things? These were used with ashiko spikes to climb walls or trees, but modern shinobi just use chakra to do that now. Are you sure you want these? You can get them without the spikes, you know." Naruto scratched his head, and said: "Oh, I thought those things were for clawing someone's eyes out. And I didn't see any without spikes." He scratched the back of his head, while staring quizzically at the pair of gloves. Iruka face-palmed when he heard Naruto explain why he picked them.

"Well, the gloves without spikes are on display right here." She pointed below her, where a pair of mentioned gloves were lying in the glass counter. "So, you wanna switch those out?"

Naruto thought about it for a second, and then said: "I'll take them both! These things look pretty great, but a spare is always handy."

"All right," Tenten said as she grabbed a pair of gloves that were on display. "that'll be three-thousand Ryo." Naruto paid for the gloves, and he and his Sensei walked to the door. "Thanks for coming, stop by soon!" Tenten said, receiving a goodbye in return from the two leaving the shop.

As the two walked to the academy, which was supposed to start in about ten minutes, Iruka suddenly remembered something. "Naruto." The boy looked up at his Sensei, "How are we going to explain this?" Iruka pointed at Naruto's hand and his own legs.

Naruto grinned and scratched his head. "Uhh, a prank gone wrong?"

Iruka laughed, and they continued walking to the academy.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Told you this chapter would be longer. The concept of Naruto having a visit to a weapons store where Tenten has a job isn't that original, but I think I executed it pretty decently.

As for Naruto not buying a weapon or something: I just think a blade doesn't really suit him, his fists suit him more. I've always thought the concept of Naruto using a sword is pretty weird. He's more a fan of breaking your nose with his fists.

Updates from now on will be a little less frequent, because my vacation is over and I have to do nothing in school all day. See ya.

(Made some minor edits to all chapters, fixed some of my stupidity and thanks to Jdes1007 for pointing out a mistake I made.)


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

Music: Avenged Sevenfold's album Nightmare, and their album Avenged Sevenfold (self-named album, not a type-o) The album Until We Have Faces from Red.

'Thought'  
"Speech"

* * *

After repeatedly cutting and stabbing himself with his newly bought gloves, Naruto thought it might be a good idea to put them in his pockets for his own safety and for others. He had switched them for his other pair, his only worry was that the pair in his pockets might poke holes in his pants.

He was walking home after another day at the academy. They'd just done the taijutsu test, and Naruto got a pretty average score of sixty-five. Of course, that bastard Sasuke just had to have ninety-five. It was like he was there to make Naruto feel extra bad about himself. The guy was un-prankable too. Almost everything about that guy pissed him off. As Naruto began repeating every reasons he hated his self-proclaimed rival, he rounded a corner to have something smash into him at a high speed.

As he dusted his pants off after getting up again, Naruto prepared to yell at the little boy that had run into him. He held his mouth though, and just stared as the boy ran behind him and clutched the back of his tracksuit as if hiding from something. He wasn't doing a very good job, because half of his enormous blue scarf was lying in plain sight next to them.

"Cover for me, bro. Just act like nothing happened." the little boy said. Naruto was looking at the weird-looking boy with a raised eyebrow, and didn't notice the shinobi walking up to them. He jumped a little when the shinobi suddenly stood next to them and said, "Honourable grandson, please come back with me, you should be training!" He was talking to the little boy that crashed into Naruto. The little boy didn't react to the shinobi, because he was busy shouting at Naruto.

"You sold me out bro! I thought you could cover for me!" the boy yelled indignantly while pointing at Naruto. "You couldn't even hide me from stupid Ebisu-Sensei! You suck!"

Of course, Naruto's ego couldn't just take an insult from a random eight-year-old. "I suck? You expect me to cover for you when you smash into me like an idiot? Damn brat!"

The 'brat's' face began to grow red with fury, and he was about to explode. "You can't talk to me like that! I'm the Hokage's grandson!" He scowled, that always made people back down, even if he didn't like it.

"Oh, so you're stuck up too, huh? Thinking you can do everything you like just 'cause you're the old man's grandson!" Naruto's hand smashed into the weird helm atop the weird little boy's head. Damn, that thing was hard. Naruto was trying to look as cool as possible with a throbbing hand, but at least it looked like it hurt the brat too.

The brat in question was staring at him like a deer in the headlights, as if nobody had ever hit him over the head before. Didn't he say he was the Hokage's grandson? Hmm. Maybe nobody _had _ever hit him over the head before.

"How dare you assault Hokage-sama's grandson, you hoodlum! Hokage-sama will hear of this, as soon as I take the young master back to his clan's compound! Come on, young master, you do not want to be seen associating with trash like him!" The shinobi grabbed the little boy's enormous scarf, and started dragging him in the direction in which they came from. The brown-haired boy started making horribly exaggerated choking noises while being pulled away by his Sensei. "Save me bro! He's going to kill me!" He was making a last attempt at getting away from his Sensei, earlier fight with Naruto forgotten.

Naruto was glaring angrily at the back of Ebisu's head. Naruto hated the way he'd been looked at by him, like he was worth less than a dumpster's contents. He had insulted him, too, like it was the most common thing in the world. And for that, Ebisu would pay the price, because nobody screws with Uzumaki Naruto.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!" Thirty clones popped out of thin air, and they all charged at the ridiculous form of a shinobi dragging an eight-year old away by his enormous scarf.

Ebisu turned around, and one of his eyebrows raised above his sunglasses. "My, my. You do have a short temper, Uzumaki-san." He got in a loose taijutsu stance, and continued, "I'll have you know that I am far above that lowly traitor's level, Uzumaki-san. You cannot overpower me with a couple of clones."

Certainly, it was impressive that he had mastered such a high-level technique, but using it ineffectively like this was not going to help him. His clones did not have space between themselves to fight if he wanted to get in close, they would just get in each other's way. That was a beginner's mistake. Well, you can't expect a Genin to out-think a special Jounin, can you?

Naruto's clones jumped up in the air simultaneously, lunging for Ebisu. 'Another mistake, you cannot alter your trajectory mid-flight, so your landing spot is very predictable for counter-attack. Uzumaki-san does not control the basics of combat, and just does what feel right to him. This could be detrimental in a real fight. He is a disgrace to the name of shinobi.' Ebisu was frowning at the terrible display of combat, clearly Naruto had not been paying attention to his lectures at the academy, and Ebisu would not mind to teach him what a simple academy tactic could do.

Ebisu was about to do a simple dodge-roll, to show that Naruto's plan of attack was entirely wrong. He was nailed to the ground in utter shock, when Naruto shouted, "Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique)!" and thirty curvy blondes latched onto him, rubbing up against him. He was trying his hardest to hold in the blood that was preparing to shoot out of his nose. It was to no avail, and he was propelled into the air by the incredible power of the stream of blood.

People had ceased their activities to look at the famous troublemaker picking a fight, and were now, in case of most men, sniggering at the display of the perverted technique (sometimes with a bloody nose themselves), or in case of most women, they were glaring angrily with shaking fists at the little blonde.

Konohamaru was starstruck, this guy had just knocked his stupid Sensei out with ease! He just had to learn that Jutsu.

"I call that one Harem no Jutsu." Naruto smugly said. His newly devised technique was even more effective than his old one, he'd never seen someone be knocked out so fast as just now. He then noticed that a group of women were walking towards him, and they seemed very angry for some reason. He didn't get why they were so upset, but he really didn't want to find out why either, so he just legged it over the fence and onto the rooftops, where civilians couldn't follow him.

As he was walking home again after taking the long way around, he noticed something weird. The wooden fence to the left had a part sideways, it had hands sticking out above it, and it was crumpled like a not-fully-stretched-out canvas. He didn't really get why that little guy (Konohamaru, was it?) was following him, so stopped for a moment to subtly make it clear that he knew he was being followed. "Stop following me! And that's the crappiest disguise I've ever seen!" Naruto yelled at the canvas. The hands sticking out above it threw the canvas away immediately, to reveal the Hokage's grandson.

"As expected from the person who could best stupid Ebisu-Sensei! You saw through my disguise immediately!" he said, while pointing at Naruto. Seeing through such a crappy disguise didn't seem like that much of an achievement to Naruto, but the brat made it sound like it was he was the greatest ninja in the world. "So, whaddaya want, brat?" Naruto asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets and having a dry expression on his face, trying to look cool.

"Make me your student, and teach me that move you just did!" Konohamaru shouted with a grin. He'd heard Naruto had knocked out the old man with that move, and seeing it in person made him want to learn it even more. "Please teach me that technique you defeated Ebisu-Sensei and gramps with! Please boss?"

Boss? That had a good ring to it. Naruto scratched his cheek while he looked at Konohamaru. The boy wasn't the perfect student, he was loud, obnoxious and impatient, but being admired by an eight-year-old had never happened before. By anyone, as a matter of fact. Well, he wasn't going to do anything productive at home anyways, and the 'boss' thing sounded pretty bad-ass too. So he could teach a brat how to be awesome for a little while.

"All right, come with me! I'll be your boss, and you'll learn the greatest technique that has ever been created!" Naruto heroically said. The two walked off to the nearest training grounds so Naruto could teach Konohamaru his original technique.

* * *

"No! Curvier! The basic form is big, small, big!" Naruto was using his hands to accentuate the form he was trying to teach Konohamaru. He was seriously getting annoyed with the brat. The kid didn't even know what a pretty girl was, he was probably still in his 'girls are stupid' phase.

"But I _am_ doing that, see boss! Big," Konohamaru pointed at his transformed face, "small," He pointed at his chest, "and big!" He pointed at everything below that level. Naruto covered his face with his palm when he heard Konohamaru's explanation for this atrocious attempt at the Sexy no Jutsu. Looks like the brat needed some extra help.

Naruto used the Jutsu himself to try and visualise his explanations. "Big," Naruto pointed at his now bountiful chest, "small," The stomach, "big!" The hips. He released the Jutsu, and continued. "Now it's your turn! No unneeded curves anywhere, and try not to mess up something that easy again!"

Honestly, the brat already knew the Henge no Jutsu (Transformation technique) before he started learning the Sexy no Jutsu, but he didn't understand the basic concept of a good looking woman. That was just stupid, if Naruto had something to say about it. And with his awesome teaching abilities, how could the brat _not_ have had the Jutsu down within two minutes?

After a couple of more trials and errors, when Konohamaru had finally perfected his version of the technique, Naruto was looking proudly at his young student. "Well, even though it took a lot longer than I'd thought..." he begun, "And with a lot I mean a _lot,_" he looked at Konohamaru, who looked right back at him, as if daring him to insult him further, "I'm proud that my student has perfected my technique!" He grinned at Konohamaru, who grinned right back at him.

"Now that I think about it, why'd you wanna learn that technique, anyway? Most people think it's stupid." Naruto questioned Konohamaru. Konohamaru answered him right away, "I told you already! Because I heard it knocked out the old geezer, so I wanted to learn it to beat him!" he said, with fiery determination in his eyes. Before Naruto could ask, Konohamaru continued. "I want to be the Hokage, so everyone will see me as _me_, no just the Hokage's grandson! Everyone knows my name, but nobody even uses it! It's always Honorable grandson this, Honorable grandson that. I just want to be acknowledged by people as _me._"

"Hokage isn't just about beating your gramps once." Naruto said. Konohamaru looked up at Naruto, surprised. "It's about being the best ninja in the entire village, not just being able to beat the old man by exploiting a weakness, otherwise I'd been the Hokage a long time ago!"

Before Konohamaru could angrily respond, Naruto said, "Now let's go, minion! Let's use this technique for what it was originally intended for, pranking!" Konohamaru's face lit up, earlier rage forgotten. He _did_ like to prank people, and this technique was apparently perfect for it.

* * *

After a couple of hours of getting back at people they didn't like by making them pass out and drag them into things like dumpsters, or tie them up and let them hang upside-down from a flagpole waiting for rescue, Konohamaru and Naruto were walking to the Hokage tower. Konohamaru still wanted to try his newly learned technique on his grandfather. Naruto wanted to see the Hokage's reaction to Konohamaru learning the Sexy no Jutsu, so he came along.

"Hey nii-chan, you're almost a shinobi, right?" Konohamaru had dropped the 'boss' thing for some reason. Naruto wasn't too happy with it, but didn't care enough to say something about it either. 'Nii-chan' sounded good too.

"Yup, I'm a week away from graduating, actually. Why do you ask?" Naruto asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Because, you only learned three Jutsu in the academy right? And I already know them. So what use is the academy now that I've got the Jutsu?" Konohamaru asked.

Naruto agreed, albeit not entirely. "Well, three Jutsu aren't the only things you'll learn. You're gonna learn about stealth, and taijutsu, and efficient use for your ninja tools," Naruto listed all the practical abilities they learned in the academy, "and you'll learn about maths and stuff in class too. But I never really paid attention to all that theoretical stuff."

Konohamaru nodded. He'd been in the academy for a little under a year, and the maths parts of classes were the most boring. But it was good to know the practical part of their classes wouldn't stop being fun after they had already learned the only three Jutsu they were going to in four entire years.

They walked by the reception of the Hokage tower. The receptionist didn't even try to stop them, those two always got past her somehow, so it was pretty useless to even try. "The Hokage is having a meeting in his office, please wait until that's done until you disturb him." She hoped the two listened, but didn't put too much faith in it. Luckily the Hokage wouldn't blame it on her any time either of those two interrupted something important.

* * *

(Ten minutes earlier than scene above)

Hatake Kakashi, Sarutobi Asuma and Yuuhi Kurenai were walking towards the Hokage tower. They'd been called upon for some sort of assignment. It was going to a damned hard one, if they needed at least three Jounin for it, Kurenai thought. "You don't seem too worried about this, Asuma, Kakashi." She cast a disapproving glance at the masked Jounin, who was still reading his porn even as they were walking through the streets.

"Why would we be worried about this?" Kakashi asked her, eyes not even looking up from his book.

"Well, the fact that three Jounin have been called for a single assignment is kind of worrying to me." Kurenai responded. Although she said this, she didn't look very worried at all. She looked calm and confident, like she always looked.

Kakashi lifted an eyebrow. He cast a questioning glance at Asuma, who told him, "She's a newly promoted Jounin, remember Kakashi? She hasn't done this before." Kakashi answered with a single nod in response, eyed focused once again on his little book.

"What haven't I done before, Asuma?" Kurenai didn't sound too happy about the two next to her leaving her out on something.

"Well, it's about a week from academy students graduation, so we'll probably be hearing that we're going to have a genin team to test." Asuma answered.

Kakashi lifted his head up out of his book. "Aww, now you've spoiled the surprise for Kurenai, Asuma. You're such a buzz-kill." he sarcastically said.

Kurenai was a little surprised by Asuma's answer to her question. "They're assigning genin teams when the students have not even graduated yet? What if some students don't pass, that will mess up the entire team roster." The logic behind this defied her a little.

"While what you're saying is very true, there have never been cases of students failing the final exam. If they wouldn't pass the final academy exam, they wouldn't have been accepted for the final year in the academy. Besides, the final academy test doesn't matter. The Jounin-Sensei decide if the students pass or not. The academy test is just to make them feel at ease. And if a student somehow magically fails the test, the Chuunin-Sensei just organise a 'special test' to get some bonus points for the student." Kakashi told Kurenai, while smiling at her. At least, she assumed it was a smile, because she could only see his upwardly curved eye.

Kurenai stared forward again, wondering who of the academy students would be assigned to her.

* * *

"Team eight, Jounin-Sensei Yuuhi Kurenai. Students assigned: Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino. Team nine, still in circulation. Team ten, Jounin-Sensei Sarutobi Asuma. Students assigned: Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chouji." The old Hokage was reading out the teams assigned to the Jounin in front of him.

"I assume nobody will have problems with coming up with an adequate test for these students?" The Jounin all nodded. Hiruzen smiled and continued, "All right then, if you have any objections to the team compositions, please let me know now, so we can still adapt the teams, if you present a valid argument."

The Hokage was about to continue, but Kakashi raised his hand. Hiruzen lifted an eyebrow, Kakashi wasn't one to complain about his team's composition, mostly because he'd never passed a team. "All right, do any more of you have objections?" Nobody raised their hand, "Then please let us hear your proposal, Kakashi." Hiruzen clasped his hands under his chin, attention focused on Kakashi, who had put away his book for a second.

"I propose Inuzuka Kiba be switched with Haruno Sakura." Murmurs went around the room. They had all expected him to try and switch out the Uzumaki, because he was the worst student, and you know, the Jinchuuriki. "And why exactly, Kakashi? Teams _are_ normally compromised of two boys and one girl." Hiruzen asked.

"I believe Sakura's progress as a kunoichi will be stunted if she would be put on a team with Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. As you might know, most of the girls this year have a little crush on the Uchiha, as does she, and she doesn't interact very well with Naruto. I think Kurenai would be better suited to teaching her. Out of the students, Sakura has the best chakra control, and I as a ninjutsu specialist cannot provide enough exercise for her to enhance her control, or begin medical training or genjutsu training. I think I would be better suited to training Kiba, who will be training in tai- and ninjutsu. I could also help him with enhancing his nose, or training Akamaru. I don't think a tradition should cause shinobi's training to be stunted."

The old Hokage nodded after a while, glad that Kakashi finally cared enough to put some consideration in his teams, and looked towards Kurenai. "Do you have any objections to this? Kakashi _does_ provides a valid point."

Kurenai seemed to be thinking this over, and after a couple of seconds she answered. "I agree to this, Hokage-sama. I think I would be better suited to teaching Sakura, and Kakashi to Kiba. If we may ignore tradition, I am in favour of this proposal."

Hiruzen nodded again, and began scribbling away on the sheets laid out in front of him. "This proposal does go against tradition. But unlike the Ino-Shika-Cho team tradition, this one is not a very useful tradition to have," He smiled towards all the Jounin that had gathered, "and if nobody has anything else to say..." He looked around his office, to see if any of the shinobi would respond, "Then you are all dismissed."

As the Jounin walked out of the room, two kids walked in. "We're not interrupting anything, are we?" the taller one of the two asked. He didn't sound too concerned about possibly interrupting something important.

The Hokage smiled towards them. "No, they were just leaving. What can I do for you, Naruto-kun, Konohamaru-kun? I heard you had a little trouble with Ebisu?" He'd heard a lot of complaints, mainly from women, about the young Uzumaki, who was apparently using his shinobi skills for something perverted.

"Yeah, that guy had it coming, with all the insults he kept tossing me. But that's not what we came for. Look!" The blonde kid pointed towards Konohamaru. "We've got a surprise for you!" Naruto said with a grin. The Hokage looked on in curiosity, as his grandson prepared the hand-seals for the henge. He'd been following Naruto around? Oh god no. His eyes widened as Konohamaru shouted the name of the technique.

"Sexy no Jutsu!" A stream of blood spurted out of the old village leader's nose, and his head fell on his table with a loud 'thud'. The two boys ran off laughing through the door, and ran past the Jounin who were walking down the hallway.

As two kids blurred past him, Kakashi glanced towards their retreating forms, and thought, 'It's probably good that Naruto won't be on a team with any kunoichi. He'd be dead within the first hour.'

* * *

**Author's notes:**

Bam. Done. The music I listen is probably a lot more than just three albums while writing, but I can't just put everything down there. One album is already too long to listen to when reading one chapter.

Chapter is a little shorter than the previous, but if I'd keep making them 8-10k words, you'd probably only get an update monthly. So I just chose to make the chapters a little shorter, so I can still update a little faster.

Also, my title is really lame. Incredibly so. Until I come up with a better one, I'll just have to stick with this one. (This title is based on a quote from Aristotle, if you noticed, you deserve a cookie.)

Have any comments on what I wrote or do you have something useful to add? Please feel free to leave a review or send me a PM.


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